Labs

The overarching purpose of our lab is similar to most labs in that goal is to better understand and predict human cognition and behavior. However, Alan Kingstone has taken a different approach to the study of human cognition. Alan argues that the findings of research done in artificial and deprived environments by nature do not generalize well to the complex and stimulus-rich real world that we live in. In 2005 he introduced the term “cognitive ethology” to describe his work, which can be roughly summarized as using real world observations to generate research questions that then can be addressed in the lab.

The Centre for Gambling Research investigates the psychology and the neuroscience of gambling behaviour, with the goal of reducing the harms associated with problem gambling and improving evidence-based gambling policy.

Research in our lab investigates the neural and cognitive mechanisms of human thought and mental functions. We examine goal-directed thought processes such as introspection and self-awareness, as well as spontaneous thought processes such as mind-wandering. We use a combination of functional neuroimaging (fMRI) and behavioural testing. We are also developing novel neuroimaging techniques such as real-time fMRI for clinical applications in psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.

The main goal of the lab is to increase understanding of human memory and related cognitive functions, how these functions vary across individuals, how they change across the adult lifespan, and how those age-related changes affect people’s use of moderns computing technologies.

Our research interests lie at the interface between emotion and cognition. Specifically, we investigate neural and genetic mechanisms that underlie the influence of emotion on what we attend to and later remember.

What leads us to pay attention to some things in the visual world and ignore others? Attention is literally our window onto the world, and my lab’s efforts center on understanding how we use attention to guide our actions in daily life and why these processes may have evolved. To address these questions we use both ERP and fMRI methodologies, while adopting analytic procedures that allow for examination of individual differences in attentional performance. The overarching goal is to not only increase our knowledge of attentional function, but to develop methods appropriate for diagnosing individual attentional capacities in the clinical domain.

At the Psychophysics and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, we use a multitude of research paradigms to ellucidate basic brain mechanisms and cognitive processes. We currently have several research studies underway examining Neural Synchrony, Stochastic Resonance, Visual and Auditory Attention, Mismatch Negativity and Stimulus Independent Thought.

Our lab studies how the human mind selects information. This selectivity is what is meant by attention, which involves a dynamic interplay among biological (neural), experiential (learning), and intentional (goals) factors.

The goal of the UBC Visual Cognition Lab is to investigate visual intelligence – the way in which the human visual system uses the light entering the eyes to create a variety of perceptual experiences. We are interested both in exploring the mechanisms that carry this out, and the ways in which this knowledge can help with the design of effective visual displays.